wear one's heart upon one's sleeve
wear one's heart upon one's sleeve is the alternative form of wear one's heart on one's sleeve.
Meaning of wear one's heart on one's sleeve
Verb
wear one's heart on one's sleeve (third-person singular simple present wears one's heart on one's sleeve, present participle wearing one's heart on one's sleeve, simple past wore one's heart on one's sleeve, past participle worn one's heart on one's sleeve)
- To be very transparent, open, or forthright about one's emotions.
- Iago: For when my outward action doth demonstrate
The native act and figure of my heart
In compliment extern, 'tis not long after
But I will wear my heart upon my sleeve
For daws to peck at: I am not what I am.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Synonyms:
- to be an open book
- Iago: For when my outward action doth demonstrate
Forms of wear one's heart upon one's sleeve
| third-person singular present | wears one's heart upon one's sleeve |
|---|---|
| present participle | wearing one's heart upon one's sleeve |
| past | wore one's heart upon one's sleeve |
| past participle | worn one's heart upon one's sleeve |
Questions about wear one's heart upon one's sleeve
- What is wear one's heart upon one's sleeve the alternative form of?
- Wear one's heart upon one's sleeve is the alternative form of wear one's heart on one's sleeve.
Words near wear one's heart upon one's sleeve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wear one's heart upon one's sleeve (page history and authors); wear one's heart on one's sleeve (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “wear one's heart upon one's sleeve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wear_one%27s_heart_upon_one%27s_sleeve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
